Museum Websites:
Online Museum Resources for Asian Art
Artize.net: Digital images of collections from Kyoto National Museum, Nara National Museum, and cultural heritage institutions. Website all in Japanese language
British Museum: Items related to Japan found through the “Collection database search”
California Museum of Photography, University of California, Riverside: Japan, hand-colored prints, ca. 1880
Nagasaki: The Johnson Family Albums, ca. 1895-1910: Photographs taken by a Methodist missionary family. Collection held at California Museum of Photography, UC Riverside
Cleveland Museum of Art–Japanese Art: Includes lesson plans
Cleveland Museum of Art–Chinese Art
Cleveland Museum of Art–Korean Art
e-museum: Items from four national museums in Japan
Honolulu Museum of Art–Japanese Woodblock Prints Collection
Union Catalog of the Collections of the National Art Museums, Japan
Minneapolis Institute of Arts–The Art of Asia
Online Museum Resources on Asian Art
Academic Projects:
Brown University Center for Digital Scholarship: The Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923
Brown University Center for Digital Scholarship: Perry in Japan: A Visual History
Indiana University at Bloomington–Japan in America: The Turn of the Twentieth Century
The University of Hawaii at Manoa–The Great Kanto Earthquake Japan, 1923
World Images: Images from across the globe, including Japan, China, and Korea
Library and Academic Websites and Digital Archives:
General
Asia and the Eastern Pacific Rim in Early Prints and Photographs (New York Public Library, USA)
The Asia Collection (Hamilton Library, University of Hawai’i, USA)
Asian & Pacific Studies – Historical Photographs
Digital Silk Road (Mainly relates to China)
East Asia Image Collection: From Lafayette College, this online database is an open-access archive containing visual media, including photographs, negatives, postcards, rare books, and slides
Frederick Williamson Collection (Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at Cambridge University, USA): Photos and film taken by British Political Officer Frederick Williamson in Sikkim, Bhutan, and Tibet, 1930s
Harvard University: Botanical and Cultural Images of Eastern Asia, 1907-1927
World Digital Library (Filters set for East Asia in link url)
China
China 1974-76: Taken by Michael Rank in the 1970s
Edwards Bangs Drew Chinese Maritime Customs Service Photographs (Harvard College Library, USA): Taken in China in the 1860s.
Historical Photographs of China
Joseph Needham Photographs (Needham Research Institute, United Kingdom): Taken by Joseph Needham in the 1940s in China
Photography of China: Resources Page
Reginald Murphy in China: Taken by journalist Reginald Murphy in 1972
Robert Henry Chandless Photographs (University Libraries, University of Washington, USA): China, early 20th century
Shackford Collection of Photographs of China (University of Hawaii, USA): Taken by John Scackford during his travels as an English teacher in China, 1920s and 1930s
Sidney D. Gamble Photographs (Duke University, USA): Photographs taken in early 20th century China
Sir Robert Hart Collection (Queen’s University, Belfast, United Kingdom): Photographs and diaries of Sir Robert Hart, Inspector General of the Imperial Customs in Beijing, 1863-1908
T.C. Chamberlin Collection – Beloit College: Collection of Rollin Chamberlin’s photos taken in China as part of the Oriental Education Investigation Commission, 1909-1910
Tea Industry Photograph Collection (Baker Library, Harvard Business School, USA): Photos of China’s 19th-century tea trade
Travels in Southwest China, 1899-1917: The archive of Fritz and Hedwig Weiss: German Consul Fritz Weiss and wife Hedwig Weiss lived and travelled in China from 1899 to 1917
University of Chicago China digital archives
The Virtual Cities Project: This database contains visual media of Beijing, Hankou, Saigon, Shanghai, Suzhou, and Tianjin. After clicking on one of the cities, use the menu at the top of the page to view images, maps, film, etc.
Werner von Boltenstern Shanghai Photograph and Negative Collection (The William H. Hannon Library, USA): Taken in Shanghai from 1937 to 1949
Yang, Etudiant Ouvrier en 1920: Yang Tche Chen travelled to France in the 1920s during the Diligent Work-Frugal Study Movement. Website in French but easy to navigate without French-language ability
Japan
A-Z Photo Dictionary of Japanese Sculpture and Art
Duke University Visual Resources for Japan
Gertrude Bass Warner collection: Lantern Slides
Japan Center for Asia Historical Records
Japanese Historical Maps (East Asian Library, University of California, Berkeley)
Library of Congress P&P online catalog: Fine prints, Japan, pre-1915
National Diet Library Exhibitions
National Diet Library Digitized Contents
Online Resources for Japanese Archaeology and Cultural Heritage: Includes lessons plans and questions for student discussion
Old Photography Japan: The March Collection, an archive of Yokohama prints
University of Chicago Japan digital archives
Korea
1964 Korea: Taken by US Soldier Klaus Moser
Digital Archive for the University of Hawaii East Asian Studies Program
Reconfiguring Korea: Roger Marshutz’s Photographs of Pusan, 1952–1954